Autoantibodies are typically not good news. But a group of researchers from Bellinzona, Switzerland, have observed that the presence of autoantibodies against chemokines, a special class of cytokines, is associated with mild disease and less risk of developing long COVID. “Our hypothesis was that antibodies to chemokines, if they existed, would also be associated with a negative outcome of the disease. But, what we found, in fact, was the exact opposite of what we were predicting,” Davide Robbiani, director of the Institute for Research in Biomedicine, told BioWorld.
The U.S. Recover program, set up in July 2022 to identify the causes of long COVID, find biomarkers of disease and discover new therapeutic targets, is now preparing to move to its next phase and begin testing potential treatments in a multi-arm, randomized, placebo-controlled trial. But with 200 different symptoms, and limited understanding of relevant system-level pathological targets, there are significant hurdles to be overcome.
An international team of researchers has created two bat stem cell lines that reveal an unusual number of viral sequences in bat cells compared with those of other mammals. Writing in an article posted online Feb. 21, 2023, in Cell, the scientists suggested that the unusual amount of viral genetic material found in the bat stem cells could explain why these mammals are largely unaffected by most viral infections, despite being able to transmit them.
Global Health Drug Discovery Institute (GHDDI) has presented 3C-like proteinase (3CLpro) (SARS-CoV-2) inhibitors reported to be useful for the treatment of Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV), severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus (SARS-CoV) and SARS-CoV-2 infections (COVID-19).
Researchers from PDS Biotechnology Corp. and affiliated organizations have detailed the development and preclinical evaluation of recombinant protein vaccines formulated with enantio-specific cationic lipid R-DOTAP.
Insilico Medicine Inc. has received IND clearance from China's National Medical Products Administration (NMPA) for ISM-3312, an orally available 3CLpro inhibitor for the treatment of COVID-19. ISM-3312 has a novel molecular structure and was optimized from compounds designed by Chemistry42, Insilico’s generative chemistry AI platform.
An international team of researchers has created two bat stem cell lines that reveal an unusual number of viral sequences in bat cells compared with those of other mammals. Writing in an article posted online Feb. 21, 2023, in Cell, the scientists suggested that the unusual amount of viral genetic material found in the bat stem cells could explain why these mammals are largely unaffected by most viral infections, despite being able to transmit them.
The emergence of new variants of concern (VOCs) of SARS-CoV-2 may limit the efficacy of monoclonal antibodies and vaccines currently used in the clinic.
